It is possible to put an HTML form within an e-mail message. Many e-mail programs will allow the recipient to fill out the fields and press the submit button -- transmitting the information back to your website. The problem is that many e-mail programs disable any CGI functions. Many limit JavaScript functions, too. Moreover, they will have to connect to the Internet when they submit the form or the information won't be transmitted. Your options seem to be:

Have survey respondents reply to the e-mail, fill out answers to your survey just below your questions, and e-mail the reply message to you. Of course, you'll have to manually collate the answers, but it will work for those who read and reply to their e-mail offline.

Provide a link to a survey hosted on the Web. Participants will have to log on to the Internet, of course, and that may limit the number of participants to some degree. Incidentally, I've had very good results using SurveyMonkey.com as my survey tool.

Experiment with an HTML form delivered via e-mail. You may find that the majority of your recipients are able to respond and will go online to submit the form. But this approach will probably experience some level failure for the reasons given above. Posted by: DTB at 9:44 AM  |  Permalink